


blood in the water

by belgianquaffle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: HPFT, F/M, and freddy his enforcer, james potter the mob boss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2019-10-24 07:22:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17700089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belgianquaffle/pseuds/belgianquaffle
Summary: "what you gon' do when there's blood in the water?"It was business as usual for James Potter until suddenly, it wasn't.





	1. miracle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ask me no questions
> 
> i will tell you no lies
> 
> careful what you wish for
> 
> -miracle, chvrches

In the middle of a dark graveyard, a man stands, smoking a cigar as he waits for his companions to arrive. He does not appear to be bothered by the frigid air around him, though the well-fitted suit he sports appears to offer little protection from the cold.

The man looks down at his large silver watch, reading each of the dials on the face,and apparently satisfied with what he sees, he turns, just in time to see his two companions materializing out of thin air.

"You're late," He speaks just above a whisper, not because he's afraid anyone will hear, but because he knows his sharp tone will convey more than a loud volume ever could.

"We're right on time," The one to his left protests.

"On time is five minutes late," The man scoffs. "Do you think James Potter has gotten where he is by arriving  _on time_?" His companion is wise enough not to respond and the man turns to the one on his right. "Is everything in place?"

"Everything is settled."

"Everything?" The man is unable to prevent himself from biting out.

"Yes," The one on the left confirms. " _Everything_ ,"

"Good,"

"And what do we do now?" The one on the left asks.

The man takes another puff of his cigar and blows the smoke out before responding. "We wait,"

His companions exchange a look, before the one on the left speaks again. "For what?"

"For him to get what's his," The man rolls the end of his cigar against the gravestone in front of him, to break the ash off the end, and pockets the rest. The protection spells against the stones prevent the marks but the man is satisfied all the same as he stares coolly down at the names.  _James Potter, Lily Evans Potter._ "They all do eventually,"

* * *

With one final groan, James Potter rolls to the side, panting heavily as he falls to his back to catch his breath. The room is in pandemonium around him-sheets a mess on the bed he lies in, clothes strewn around the room, a glass broken on the floor in haste-but it doesn't matter to him.

It will be in perfect condition when he returns again.

The girl next to him-what  _is_ her name?-makes to roll over closer just as he purposely sits up over the edge of the bed and she instead ends up with a face full of pillow. "Oh! I thought we could-"

He's saved by at a knock on the door. "Hey, Boss?"

James is already slipping back into his pants. "Yeah?"

The door opens. The girl yanks the sheet up but Brian pays her no mind. "It's time,"

The buttons on his shirt are already done up as he nods. "You'll..." He trails off but it needs not be said.

There is a protocol for this sort of thing.

"Wait!" The girl on the bed cries out and sits up as he slips back into his shoes, suddenly uncaring about modesty. "Where are you going?"

Instead of answering, James picks up his blazer and checks the pockets. Wand, wallet, all seems to be in order. "Brian will see you home safely." He responds instead and slips out the door, where Julian waits.

He has far more important things to do than pretend to care in order to spare a girl's feelings.

* * *

"Minor issue at the ports last night," Tommy Lancaster strolls into James' office when given the all clear by both James and his guards, a mere hour after James' afternoon delight-which to his own disappointment, had done little to actually lift his spirits anywhere close to delight.

James pauses, letting the ends of the tie he'd been beginning to don fall, as he turns to stare down one of his captains. "How minor?" Tommy is too slow to answer. When James repeats, it's more forceful. "How minor, Lancaster?"

"Eight minutes late," Tommy responds.

"With full shipment?" James needles, doing the math in his head-routes, tides, the port it'd come into-and thinking of all the places something could have set them back.

Or worse, what could have gone wrong.

"Yeah," Tommy nods. "I triple checked, don't worry,"

It's moments like that where James recognizes why exactly Tommy is one of his best captains. He knows this business, can know what James is looking for from him before he's even asked for it.

Tommy is believable, Tommy is trustworthy; if Tommy says the shipment is still fine, then James will take his word for it.

But there's one thing to be discussed still.

"What happened?" James turns toward the mirror in his office, returning to the entirely-too-difficult task of trying to tie a cape knot.

"Dunno yet," Tommy shrugs. "Would you like to go find out?"

James purses his lips, eyes looking down at his watch. He'd taken entirely too much time with what's-her-name earlier. "No, I'm headed out," He tugs on his tie to fix the loop and tighten the entire monstrosity, mildly satisfied with the appearance of the knot. "You know what needs to be done,"

Tommy nods. "I'll see you later then,"

As Tommy steps out of the office, James makes his final preparations for tonight's gala. With wand and wallet on hand, he steps out.

"Ready, boss?" Brian is leaning against the wall, prepared for the night out in a suit of his own.

"I was born ready," James returns, and then they're spinning away.

* * *

"That's complete bullshit!"

"We've had this deal in place for weeks!"Freddy, James' best friend, cousin, and second-in command, responds. "Why are you coming out with these terms now?"

Privately James agrees, even though he's fixed a flat stare on his face to prevent any of these men from thinking he's entirely on either side of this battle.

To his credit, the man across from them does not back down, which slightly surprises James. Generally if his stare doesn't get it done, the sheer size of Freddy Weasley seems to do it. Combined they seem to be unstoppable. "We've got a legacy to-"

"Gentleman," James turns at the voice interrupting and swallows heavily as he looks to the perfect view of Charlotte Densmore at his side with her hand perched in his elbow.

Of course, there is one more option for getting what they want and she's standing next to him, smiling at the men surrounding him, and as James follows her gaze over to them, he's instantly aware that they are just as awed.

He can't blame them. She'd single-handedly brought the color white back into every witch's wardrobe in the late summer of their Fifth Year at the annual Hippogriff Races and it had been a signature of hers ever since. Tonight she wears a tight knee-length bandage dress in that very color with a deep v-neckline and a  _very_  low back, that her long dark hair barely covers half of.

It's been driving him crazy since he first set eyes on her. The tall red heels haven't helped.

The delay in murmured hellos confirms his theory that he isn't the only one looking, but she is far too polite to mention it, and instead only adjusts her grip on James, smiling wider as she addresses them. "Would you all mind if I borrowed James from you?" Her posh accent always sounding a bit stronger when she was turning on the charm, and it was no exception right then.

Of course, when Charlotte asks anything, nothing is a problem, and James is walking away, Charlotte still hanging on the crook of his arm, within a minute. "Thanks for getting me out of there," He mutters, immediately leading her toward the bar, ignoring the significant look that their mutual best friend is sending them for leaving him behind. "The McWilliams merger shouldn't be hitting that many issues; someone else can handle it,"

"I agree," She responds coolly, and away from the others, her voice loses it's extra edge. She sounds like the girl he's known since they were children.

"Mr. Potter and Ms. Densmore," The bartender greets before she can finish her thought. "1966 firewhiskey neat and a glass of champagne?"

James looks over at Charlotte, who nods, before confirming the drink order. His drink of choice was fairly consistent; hers tended to change based on her mood. He waits until the bartender moves on before leaning against the wood and speaking. "You were saying,"

"I agree about McWilliams. It's mostly legal now anyway; send Patrick to finish up," He nods; she's right on that thought. They retain her brother as a lawyer for a reason. Let him earn his keep. "But we have a bigger problem,"

He takes in her face; eyebrows raised and lips slightly pursed, she doesn't look happy. He follows her gaze across the room until he finds the issue. "Ah."

"Well?"

"This is your territory, is it not?" He takes a sip of his whiskey, unable to take his eyes off the way her fingers grip her glass of champagne.

Her eyes flicker back to him. Where before the blue was soft, they're now icy cool as they stare him down. Besides his mother, she's the only person able to do so. "Merely making you aware of what's occurring," In other words,  _it's being handled_. She lifts her glass off the bar, clearly ready to return to mingling.

"You don't need my permission," He calls to her as she begins to walk away. Because he knows that she can take care of this particular issue in a way he never could.

Charlotte barely looks back over her shoulder as she responds. "I  _wasn't_ asking," She says coolly and continues on her walk through the crowd, just reaching her target as James taps two fingers on the bar to signal for another drink. He watches as she smiles, leaning forward and wrapping her left arm around the man's bicep, the light catching on the diamond stone the man had placed on her finger nearly three years ago.

He holds in the sigh. Better make this one a double.

It quickly becomes a triple as said man moves his arm from within the crook of Charlotte's to around her waist. Damon Wright laughs with the group around him before pressing a light kiss to Charlotte's temple. As she takes on the role of adoring fiancee, Damon catches James' eye from across the room, his unspoken message clear.

James lifts his glass up in Damon's direction, unable to help the smirk that spreads across his face, his silent response understood just as well. For a few moments, the other man maintains eye contact, and James leans casually back against the bar, unblinking, before settling in to enjoy the satisfaction, as Damon breaks his gaze and turns back to his conversation.

It never hurts to let your enemies know you're watching.

* * *

"Won't talk," Tommy stops James on his way to back to the bar later that evening. He looks just like anyone else at this fundraiser, dressed the the nines now. The only hint that he'd spent the last few hours trying to get information from a captured ship captain is the bruise on his knuckles and the exhaustion in his eyes.

If you weren't looking for it, you'd never know.

James raises an eyebrow. "Won't?"

"Well," Tommy continues. "Ship's captain and all the crew say that they ran into trouble out at sea when they almost hit another ship,"

"But," James prompts.

"Their story seems too good," Tommy shrugs. "Avi's there now, still working." James nods. "And we've re-checked the shipment. It's definitely all there,"

James frowns. "We'll see what Avi gets then,"

Tommy nods. "It doesn't look like much,"

"We send that shipment right out tomorrow," James watches the woman pass in front of him, notes carefully as she coughs into her elbow and wonders if she's already carrying the disease and her lungs are shriveling in on themselves as her now toxic blood flows in her body. If she'll be admitted to St. Mungo's in time for them to administer anti-septic potion or if she'll ignore the symptoms long enough.

She'll die if she does.

He turns back to Tommy. "It gets to Mungo's for their shift switch tomorrow morning."

"I'll get guys on it right now,"

"Good," James nods. He's got another shipment to sneak in tomorrow night and there won't be nearly as much cloud cover to get it in with.

If the Ministry would just go ahead and clear neutralized antimony as a safe import, he could focus on his normal business operations. Instead he's smuggling potions ingredients in at an ever increasing frequency to try and help manage this crisis.

Because doing  _something_  is always better than doing nothing.

Tommy nods again, but it's only after he speaks that James realizes it's not directed at him. "Ms. Densmore,"

"Hello, Tommy," Charlotte smiles and Tommy blinks, visibly struck by her, no different from anyone James has seen all evening. "If you're all finished talking business," Like she doesn't know everything that's happening. "James and I have an old friend we need to say hello to,"

It is less a request than it is a demand; Tommy knows as well as any of them that Charlotte's word is just as much law as James'. The captain nods and smiles gracefully at the brunette on James' arm. "Lovely to see you as always, Ms. Densmore. I have a few things to take care of here before I attend to some business of my own,"

It's James and Charlotte who leave first, the crowd parting for them as they make their through to their target in the far corner. "You think your plan will work?" James mutters, watching Freddy grin down at the girl in question.

"Today is when you doubt me?"

"Love, I've never doubted you a day in my life,"

They don't have time to dissect the extra layer in his words, but Charlotte looks up at him, with a knowing smirk on her face. "Then act like it," She says instead, and before he can even blink, her smirk is fixed into a gentle smile and she's stepping away from him to pull the girl in front of Freddy in for a hug. "Erica, hi!"

Erica McGovern smiles politely back once Charlotte pulls away and she looks at Freddy for confirmation before turning back.

Because unfortunately for her, Freddy's staring back at his two best friends, trying to size them up.

With her almost ethereal beauty, Charlotte is intimidating to even the most confident of women. But it's the way that Erica seems to curl in on herself that lets James know this will be easy.

Charlotte will have the girl second guessing anything she's ever thought about herself and everything she's ever known in less than five minutes.

"Hello," Erica says, understandably hesitant. She couldn't have been expecting such a warm welcome, so James can't blame her skepticism.

"What brings you back over here?" Freddy's pursed lip stare does nothing to cut into either James or Charlotte. James sips casually on his whiskey and Charlotte continues to wait patiently for an answer, even as Erica visibly cringes at the unspoken implications of the question. What brings you back over here:  _after all this time_ ,  _so sudden and abruptly, without a warning_?

Erica takes a large gulp of her own drink before answering. "Work, actually.  _The Times_  sent us over to cover this fundraiser for St. Mungo's and to try and get some info on pulmonary sangunitis." She tries to finish on a light note, but her discomfort is clear.

"That's great," Freddy nods supportively, trying to ease the tension. "They must be really panicked over there in the States if they're sending a whole team of you,"

"Oh just me and a photographer," Erica nods awkwardly.

"Working tonight even?" Charlotte says in her most innocent voice; James fights back a laugh, but Freddy's gaze shoots over toward her and James is sure that the only thing stopping him from a full glare is their location. "I thought I just saw your photographer leaving."

Erica frowns. "Leaving?"

Charlotte nods, pressing her free hand over her heart, selling it with the utmost sincerity. "That tall blond you were with earlier?" Erica nods slowly. "He left with someone about twenty minutes ago?" She looks over at James, as if asking for confirmation, like she didn't ochestrate Erica's photographer leaving with James' cousin down to the exact minute.

"He left  _with someone_? He's married!" Erica blinks back her surprise.

James puts on his sleaziest grin and shrugs. "You know how it is. Business trips and such,"

She does not, in fact, look like she  _knows how it is_ , but she nods, clearly shocked. "Yeah. Business."

Charlotte smiles pleasantly and James can see Freddy's jaw tighten but he says nothing as she reaches out for his arm. "I do need to steal Freddy from you though. We  _promised_  Monsieur Duval we would say hello tonight,"

"Oh, um," Erica starts, but Charlotte's already turned with Freddy and begun walking away.

"I'll catch you-" Freddy's words are lost as Charlotte pulls him through the crowd.

James sips on the whisky in his hand, reveling in the awkwardness in front of him as Erica fidgets. "It's been nice to catch up, Erica. Do enjoy the rest of your time in town,"

And without a second glance, he turns on his heel, stepping quickly to catch up with Freddy and Charlotte. "-Can't  _believe_ you just did that," Freddy hisses, keeping his face neutral.

Charlotte manages to keep her smile intact as she replies under her breath, "She left you here  _alone_. Or have you forgotten that?"

James slides his hand on Charlotte's low back. Merlin this dress is killing him. "Would either of you care to hold this for later?" He says pleasantly. "We have an issue to take care of,"

Monsieur Duval has some explaining to do about an eight minute delay in a certain "all clear" shipment route.

* * *

"Fucking A,"

"Deal the fucking cards,"

"Fuck you, Freddy," James ignores his cousins in favor of searching out a cigar in his desk. By the time he resurfaces, Louis, James' cousin and chief accountant, has managed to reign in his drunkenness enough to shuffle appropriately and deal out the next hand.

"You got another one of those, James?" Patrick Densmore eyes James' cigar interestedly, giving it a much longer look than his current hand of cards.

James fights back the snicker that threatens to escape, but reaches into his drawer and pulls out an extra cigar for Charlotte's older brother. In addition to himself, Freddy, Lou, and Pat, a few other of his closest confidants had joined them for a poker game in his office, once the Mungo's event had ended that evening. Thus far, it'd had been mostly a shit show of epic proportions-and minimal card playing.

For a group of guys that run a gambling ring, they should be able to play a poker game better than this.

It moves a bit faster when the deck passes to Freddy and soon smoke fills the air when Lou helps himself to a cigar from the desk, passing a few around the room.

"I call," Tommy throws his chips in the pot.

"Fuck," Lou groans, rubbing his forehead. "I-"

The door is abruptly blasted open, and from the hallway, James can hear Avi attempt to stop someone from rushing in. "You can't-"

Freddy's got his wand pulled and is at the doorway before the rest of them can even react, but it doesn't matter.

Charlotte's brushing past him like he's not a giant block of muscle pointing a wand right at her. She's moving so quickly that it takes the entire time until she reaches the desk for James to realize that she's in a panic and that he's actually leaning forward to meet her halfway, to get to whatever it is that she's got in her hand.

So he's closer, even, when she drops two teeth on his desk.

Two blue, glowing,  _child-size_  teeth.

"Get out," James says flatly, unable to take his eyes off of them.

Some, like Tommy Lancaster, stand right away, moving toward the door. Others, like Lou, take their sweet time. "We're in the middle of a rou-"

"GET OUT!" James roars, and there's no more argument, everyone leaving without another word, and James stands, stepping around to the other side of his desk just in time to catch Charlotte before her legs give out to collapse.

Instead, he lowers the two of them to the ground slowly as she breaks down completely and he can do nothing more than stare numbly at the faint glow of blue on the center of his desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! New story! Back to writing! All good things! If you know me over on HPFT (or follow me over on tumblr), you may know I've been hyping this one up for a while, so I'd love to hear any thoughts you have so far!
> 
> Lyrics from the title and story summary are form blood / water by grandson.


	2. edge of desire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> don't say a word just come over and lie here with me
> 
> because i'm just about to set fire to everything i see
> 
> i want you so bad, i'll go back on the things i believe
> 
> -edge of desire, john mayer

James has absolutely no idea how long he and Charlotte stay like that for before the door opens again. It's unsurprising it's Freddy; it could  _only_  be Freddy. No one else would  _dare_  enter again under these circumstances, especially without knocking first.

"We have to go," Freddy says, gently, but firmly, like he knows neither James nor Charlotte feel ready to move yet. Possibly ever.

The glare Charlotte sends him would send a weaker man running, crumbling, retracting whatever comment he'd just made.

Freddy Weasley is not a weak man. "We can't stay here, Char," He repeats in the same tone. "You know that,"

And she does.  _She_ does, and Freddy does, and James does too. They need to do security sweeps, to reset protections spells, and most importantly, to ensure their safety.

They need to go figure out what the hell has happened.

James takes a deep breath and nudges Charlotte to stand, a nudge that's barely necessary as she's shakily climbing to her feet already. "Send Tommy up here to reset everything and have a team meet us there,"

"He's waiting outside," Freddy nods toward the door. "And I'm ready to move when you are,"

"Let's go," Charlotte nods, smoothing out her dress. She's still dressed from the party earlier that evening, but everything about her now is terribly disheveled-hair, makeup, dress.

It should have been anyone's first clue that something was wrong, just from one look at her.

She makes to follow Freddy, and James reaches for the teeth, unwilling to leave them behind, for all that he knows Charlotte can't stand to look at them anymore.

"Follow in five," Freddy says, once they're in the hallway and free to apparate.

"There's no point," Charlotte huffs. "It's all compromised,"

"The point is-" Freddy argues.

"We go together," James interrupts quietly. "We're a team,"

Freddy looks like he wants to argue this point, but James is already grabbing Charlotte's hand and turning on the spot, apparating away from any argument.

At first glance, everything seems fine. From far away, the house seems perfectly in order, nothing is off kilter in the yard, the fence is still perfectly aligned.

It's really only because James is  _looking_  for the traces of magic that he notices they're not there. The untrained eye wouldn't know that all their protection spells have been broken. A fact that's only confirmed when Freddy apparates right next to Charlotte and jumps right in step with them to walk up to the house, when they are  _well within range_  of where the wards should have been activated.

Inside, however, is absolute chaos.

The foyer is trashed. Shattered glass covers the floor, and the metal frame of the chandelier that used to hang above crushes the mostly disfigured body of one of the guards that had been assigned to the house tonight. The other guard sits slumped against a wall, a hole blasted in his chest; it had certainly not been a quick death.

Damon lies flat as a board on the floor almost immediately in front of them and Charlotte steps over him to walk further into her home. "Were you ambushed?" Freddy asks harshly, following her quickly.

"No," She responds indifferently. " I stunned him,"

"You stunned him?" Freddy repeats, looking back at the man in the doorway before turning again to Charlotte.

She meets his gaze dead on. "This doesn't concern him,"

It's a stare down for a few moments, broken only by the arrival of Avi and Julian, ready to head the clean up team. "Where can we start?" Avi doesn't look phased as he addresses them, immediately ready to get to work. Julian, generally more observant, is looking around, taking in everything with sharp eyes and careful readings.

"Get him upstairs," James gestures to Damon and Avi levitates him up and away, following at a close distance.

"Walk us through," Freddy knows a losing battle when he sees one. "When did you notice something was wrong?"

"As soon as we apparated in," Charlotte responds. "I always look to make sure the spells are still in place when I'm crossing in and as you saw..." She need not continue.

"So you walked inside knowing something had already happened?" James demands. "Not knowing if someone was waiting inside still?"

"I didn't know what had happened inside," Charlotte says softly. "And I wasn't about to cause panic over something that could have been nothing,"

"So when it clearly wasn't, you stunned him," Freddy surmises. "To keep him out of the way while you figured out what had happened,"

"Not exactly," Charlotte begins hesitantly, and James thinks he gets it, the second layer to this.

"The trackers," He says, hand going to his pocket to feel the tiny teeth and Charlotte and Freddy's heads both whip around to him. "Where did you find them?"

"The table," She points to the wooden one across the room, the one thing that looks relatively unharmed.

And now James knows why.

The glowing blue would have been bright enough for her to see from the doorway; it would have been the first place she went after stepping into the destruction.

He approaches the table with caution, as Freddy continues talking with Charlotte, pressing further for details about everything that had happened in the time between her arrival home until her appearance in James' office.

Upon closer inspection, the table is still in perfect condition, but James can see further into the first floor of the house from his new position, and it appears that everything else is too. The battle in the entryway didn't extend far inwards, it appears, and somehow slightly comforted with this thought, he continues his examination.

Two pictures sit on either side of a clock, which ticks away steadily despite all the chaos reigning around it. The picture framed on the left features a smiling Damon looking to wrap his arm around a Charlotte who's far more interested in the two children standing in front of her; James has seen this picture countless times before and the photo version of Charlotte is usually much more agreeable to posing happily;this is a clear side effect of the night's events.

The photo on the left is one he recognizes well. It's the photo of Freddy, Charlotte, and himself on their last day of Hogwarts, together on the train platform one last time. They're all laughing-they always are in the picture, no matter whose house he sees it in- and they look happy, content, and free. It's entirely the opposite of the picture across from it and James has never been more aware of the stark contrast between the two of-

"Char," James calls, interrupting her and Freddy, as a thought formulates in his head. "Which side of the table did you find the trackers on?" His eyes flicker back and forth between the pictures. Left and right. Damon and himself.

"Right,"

Her voice is suddenly next to him and he turns to find both her and Freddy beside him. "Are you positive?" She nods. "Somebody knows,"

"They can't," Freddy says immediately.

James raises an eyebrow. "Someone broke in, while Charlotte wasn't here mind you, to  _take_ Liam and Olivia. They  _knew_  about trackers  _we made_ and took deliberate care to remove them so they couldn't be traced. They  _left them_ somewhere  _that they knew they'd be seen_ , but not just out in the open, in front of this picture specifically," He gestures. "Because whoever it is knows, and they want us to know that,"

Charlotte's steeled her face and Freddy purses his lips when James finishes and he's surprised it's she who speaks first. "Somebody knows," She peeks hesitantly over at Julian, cleaning up her foyer.

"Somebody knows," James agrees, and for all of his narrow escapes of death and serious injury, their missing children is the scariest thing that's ever happened to him.

* * *

With Freddy leading the clean up and search for clues in the entrance, James is free to go off deeper in the house. His best attempts to stay focused are derailed within minutes, and he finds himself in the place he  _told_ himself he'd save for last.

Liam and Olivia's rooms.

It's no surprise to find Charlotte standing in Liam's doorway, staring mindlessly at the empty room in front of her. She looks up as he approaches slowly, the walk down the hallway feeling forever long.

But she reaches for his hand when he gets close enough and the worst night of his life seems just a bit more okay. They're in this together, him and her, just how things should be-the two of them against the world.

"I'm going to get them back," He promises, rubbing this thumb over the back of her hand.

"I know you will," Charlotte says softly. "You've never let me down before," She leans forward leaning her head on his shoulder and James tilts his to rest his cheek against her hair, giving in to the comfort they both crave.

Neither child's room looks like much of a struggle occurred, which is simultaneously more and less comforting. It's too soon to know if they've been hurt or just walked out with their captor; it's so clear to James that this is personal and for all that he wants to just go after everyone he thinks has even a semblance of a vendetta against him with his wand blazing, he knows that's the worst thing he could do with Liam and Olivia's lives at stake.

"He'll take care of her," James can't stop thinking of the worst situations, but it's always countered with the bright faces of Liam and Olivia. Sweet Olivia, always asking why, only just learning to throw a Quaffle; and Liam, so nurturing and caring as he was always so patient with his little sister. "He will. You've done so well with them, they-"

"Please don't," Charlotte says, sounding like she wants to cry again and James obliges, because he wants to too.

* * *

James voices the thought Freddy's been thinking for a while the second that they return to the office. "You can't stay there,"

With the house scoured for any information, cleaned and restored to its former glory, and protection spells reset to their normal level, there's not much else they can do there. It's time to prioritize safety and chase down leads.

"I have to," Charlotte responds coolly. "If we're handling this internally," She looks at James. "Unless we're going to bring your dad into this?"

Realization spreads through Freddy's body and he can see the exact moment it dawns on James as well. They've cleaned this up and need to keep moving forward with finding Liam and Olivia on their own-the way they prefer to solve all their problems- but that means carrying on like nothing is wrong to the public eye. All secret business must remain secret- for Liam, for Liv, for every person at St. Mungo's who relies on them to bring in the antimony. "Business as usual." Freddy nods.

"I'm adding a personal guard," James frowns, looking unhappy with this statement. Freddy agrees, this business is by far the toughest thing they'll have to do. "Brian's coming to stay,"

Charlotte nods. "Where do we do go from here?"

"To see a ship captain." Freddy says decisively. "Because there's no way this isn't related,"

* * *

Ducking the shot of green light is easy; ducking it while remaining in pursuit is slightly more challening. Freddy spares the slightest of looks to make sure that Tommy is still with him before pressing forward.

His visit with the ship captain hadn't yielded much more information than Tommy's had the night before. They'd been cut off coming in by another ship, which had caused their late arrival into the ports.

Freddy's imposing presence (and some increased threats) had lead them to the ship that  _had_  cut them off. Freddy hadn't exactly hoped for much besides a look around the ship, maybe some clues as to where it had come from.

He certainly hadn't expected anyone to still be  _on_  it and chase had begun immediately after someone had hopped onto the docks, sending spell after spell at them to try and send them off.

Needless to say, it hadn't worked.

Freddy sends a Stunner forward, cursing when it doesn't hit anything, and turning the corner, cursing again as they're moving away from the ports and into a business section of town. There are too many people around, too much activity going on.

Too many witnesses.

"On your left!" Tommy calls from just behind him, and Freddy dives to the right, ducking under a restaurant's table, just as a large display from outside one of the stores comes crashing down in the direct path that Freddy had been in.

With renewed vigor, Freddy jumps out and continues pursuit, Tommy hot on his heels. They cut left and leap over obstacles. Freddy's panting as he makes sure not to let the distance between them grow too far, despite all of the efforts otherwise.

Spells keep flying. He hears Tommy swear as he's hit with something but Freddy can barely pause to look back; he hears Tommy behind him a moment later, so it must not be something too serious. He himself is hit with one that slices his shirt and skin open on his right arm; he can feel the blood flying off his arm as he continues running.

A right turn ends it all. Freddy can see the panic in the man's eyes as he stops abruptly at the dead end of the alley. "Stupefy!" Freddy shouts, before he can apparate away from them.

It's parried away, but also immediately countered and then they're dueling, sparks and colors flying as Freddy battles for the win, for information, for their best lead about his niece and nephew's disappearance not to disappear on them.

It's over as suddenly as it begins, as the two-on-one advantage wins out. Tommy's reappearance sends their man to the ground with one last spell that shatters the window next to them, and with a grim look exchanged between them, they move forward carefully.

A tall ginger, the man they'd chased looks like he could be any one of Freddy's uncles. He's not anyone Freddy has ever seen before though, and Tommy's frowning down at him as well, no hints of recognition.

Behind him, he can hear the aftermath of their chase. The businesses back on the main streets trying to put everything back in order after the moment of chaos. The slight chatter of patrons trying to figure out what had happened between them.

It's a whole new kind of chaos.

The alley is quiet now. Dust fills the air from the broken window, but everything has settled, as if waiting for Freddy to make a decision about what to do next. The quiet is good; it's time to think of their next move-if Tommy would just  _stop whimpering_.

"Would you stop making that noise?" Freddy snaps.

"What noise?" Freddy's head whips over to the direction of the voice. Tommy's bent over the body of their new friend, no signs of distress whatsoever, despite the slight cut on his forehead. He stands, at Freddy's words, and repeats. "What-"

"Shh," Freddy hushes, listening again. The noise had quieted once he'd acknowledged it, but he can hear the faintest hiccup of breathing to his left. He peeks behind the trashcan-the noise is louder, but there's nothing there-and then his eyes focus on an old muggle refrigerator.

There's a woman behind it. Dirty, wearing tattered clothes, and wide-eyed as she stares up him fearfully. Her hand covers her mouth in a desperate attempt to keep silent and she-

She's totally innocent in all of this.

But she's seen everything they've done.

"Hi," Freddy says gently. She tries to back away from him, blocked by the brick wall behind her.

"Freddy," Tommy warns.

He ignores the warning, crouching down and reaching his hand out to her. "My name's Freddy. What's yours?"

"Jul-Juliette,"She speaks with that same slight French accent his Aunt Fleur speaks with, letters that all sound just somewhat different that the English he's used to.

"Juliette," He smiles. "Juliette, could you come with me?" She shakes her head slowly.

"Freddy," Tommy repeats, in that same warning tone.

Again, Freddy ignores him. "Are you afraid of me?" She nods again, equally as slow. "You have my word. I won't hurt you," He promises. "But I need you to come with me," She hesitates. "In a few minutes, people are going to come this way, looking to see what happened. I can't have you here, and trust me, you don't want to be here when they do get here."

Juliette stares for a moment, before finally, she reaches her hand out to meet his. "Ok," She agrees and Freddy whisks her away before she can change her mind on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wooo chapter two!! if you've got the time, let me know what you think so far! thanks for reading


	3. broken parts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fractured in fragments us fragile things
> 
> falling to pieces but we're all the same broken
> 
> fractions and halves of some greater thing
> 
> falling to pieces but we're all the same broken parts
> 
> -broken parts, the maine

The air is crisp with the smell of snow as James steps through the gate and begins his walk down the winding path. Julian follows, at a respectable distance, unwilling to get any closer as James walks to meet his family, but simultaneously unable to let James out of his sight.

"James!" James turns, heart rate dropping back to normal once he realizes that the voice belongs to his sister, and he slows his pace so she can catch up. She's tamed her hair for the day and carries a bouquet of lilies-a fact he can't help but tease her on.

"You couldn't be more original?"

She sticks her tongue out at him. "Lilies for Lily from Lily seemed very fitting!" She looks at the bouquet in his hands. "Typical male. Thinks every woman wants a bouquet of roses,"

James' bouquet is composed of peach and cream colored roses. It'd been waiting for him on his desk when he arrived in the office this morning, in the same spot that Charlotte put the bouquet every year.

Business as usual.

"Rude of you to assume I would buy every woman a bouquet of roses," James says, returning to the topic at hand.

"Don't be silly," Lily laughs. "I don't think you  _actually_ buy  _any_  woman a bouquet of roses!"

But before James can respond, they arrive at their destination and the mood changes. Their parents and brother have arrived already, standing in front of the two gravestones they meet at three times each year.

Lily goes immediately to hug their father so James turns the other way. "Hi mum,"

She smiles, stepping forward to hug him. "What, no flowers for me too?"

It's like this every year, because despite their meeting in a graveyard, the tone for either of his grandparents' birthdays was never quite somber. From the time James was little, it'd always been an occasion to be happy and celebrate, a time to reflect and be the best versions of themselves. On his grandmother's birthday, they paid their respects and went to lunch as a family and finished the day off with a charity dinner to raise money for the children's foundation James' dad had created in his grandparents' honor.

When the rest of the greetings are made, they stand for their moment of silence, lying their flowers in front of Lily Potter's grave, before quickly returning to their usual, loud selves. James is the last to place his bouquet, bending down to add to the pile, when his eyes catch on something black on the ground, right near the edge of his grandmother's tombstone. He reaches out for it-

"James!" Lily's waving for him when he turns. "Come on!"

He looks back at the black substance one more time and sighs. It's important to keep up appearances. Business as usual.

"Coming!"

* * *

"How goes the job search, Lil?" Personally, James thinks Albus fully deserves the death glare their sister sends across the table at him. Lily's search for a career after Hogwarts had led her down many paths so far-most recently at an apothecary, despite her hatred for potions.

"Ugh," Is all she has to say.

"That well," James' mum says mildly.

"What's the point in having wildly famous parents and incredibly successful brothers if none of them will just give you a job?" Lily whines.

"Sorry Lil," Al laughs. "Not unless you want to go through three years of healing school,"

She pulls a face. "James?" She asks hopefully.

That's a definite no. "No way," He laughs it off. "Al and I worked our way up; you can too, Lil."

"God, you guys are the worst!" She complains.

"You've talked extensively about how you'd hate to be in both of their fields," James' dad points out.

Amongst her family's laughter, Lily hesitates. "That-that's a fair point,"

His mum's response is lost on James as the watch in his pocket starts to burn. It'd been Freddy's idea to use to the same technology their parents had used back in school to communicate between certain members of the business and it'd been a staple ever since. Today, his pocketwatch is urging him to get back to the office ASAP, and he frowns slightly, before slipping it back into his pocket.

"-come back and relax a little before we have to get ready for tonight?" His mum asks and there's some agreement from his siblings.

"Sorry," James frowns apologetically. "Have to run to the office for a bit."

"Oh, really?" She frowns and he nods, hugging her tightly.

"Sorry, mum. Business never stops,"

"That's why I didn't want to do what you do," Lily nods. "Suddenly I've remembered,"

James laughs and makes his goodbyes quickly. There are a lot of reasons his sister shouldn't want to do what he does, but the matter at his office is a bit more pressing at the moment.

* * *

Pressing her lips together, Charlotte contemplates the shade of red she'd just applied. It's a deep, almost blood-colored red, a shade named Revival, her standard actually, but she wonders if she should opt for something a bit more gentle.

A silly thought. She shakes her head, tossing her hair back over her shoulders. It falls back in loose waves and she smiles at the reflection in the vanity in front of her.

Make up can work wonders in hiding multitudes of things. The person that stares back at her doesn't look remotely worried, sleep-deprived, or terrified. The everyday Charlotte smiles the same way she would at a charity dinner or at one of their business partners.

Revival it is.

She stands from the vanity and returns to the bedroom, ready to get dressed for the day. With nothing official on the docket until the Potter's charity dinner tonight, she settles quickly on an outfit, donning the jeans, button down, and booties.

Damon's exiting the shower as she's zipping her booties. "Going out?" He asks flatly and then, before she can respond. "Oh wait, this probably  _doesn't concern me_ ,"

He's looking right at her and despite the bite in his words, she meets his gaze. "You knew what you were getting into bed with,"

"I don't recall kidnapping being mentioned as one of the illicit activities you do!"

"Yes, well, we're all a bit thrown by this one!" Charlotte snaps, standing up to match his heated posture.

Damon seems to realize his tone and steps back, leaning against the dresser. "Sorry. I know this-motherfucker!" He exclaims suddenly, drawing his hand against his chest. "That's hot!"

It means little to him, but it means everything to Charlotte and she shoves him aside to reach the pendant necklace that's currently burning as they speak. She frowns at the message.

"-it's hard on me too, okay?" Damon shakes her shoulder gently. "Charlotte? Did you hear me?"

"I have to go," She slips the pendant around her neck. "We can talk more later if you'd like." And she's slipping out the door before he can get the chance to respond.

She has much more pressing matters than this.

* * *

Tommy's standing outside James' office when he arrives, which is interesting, because he doesn't usually wait like this. He looks...not nervous, that's not the word for it-hesitant, like he knows something he doesn't  _want_  to know.

"What's going on?" James frowns. "Who sent the call out?"

"I did," Tommy says and James feels his frown deepen because that means it's something serious.

"What happened?"

Tommy opens his mouth to respond, but then shakes his head. "I'll let him explain."

"Not reassuring, Lancaster," James says dryly and pushes his way into his office.

He can feel the tension when he walks inside. Charlotte's pointing her wand at Freddy, who's standing up against it defiantly. They're both glaring at each other, in a way they so rarely do. "What the hell is going on in here?"

"Ask him." The words seem to drip from Charlotte's lips and he's heard her sound angry before, but she sounds  _furious_  now.

The hint is always the tone. Anger brings shouting; it's when she becomes so angry that all her words seem icy and cold that they're in trouble.

James turns to look at Freddy and for the first time notices that he's standing the way he is for a reason: there's a person behind him. A girl, hiding in the corner of the couch, knees pulled to her chest to make herself smaller, looking like she couldn't be more uncomfortable. "What did you do?"

"I couldn't just get rid of her," Freddy argues, which doesn't answer the question at all.

"Like hell you couldn't!" Charlotte snaps.

"We had a mess on our hands already," Freddy shakes his head. "And limited time,"

"Fine," Charlotte says coolly. "Then we can take care of it now,"

Freddy stands up straighter. "Are you even listening to me?"

"She can't stay!"Charlotte cries, almost hysterically.

"Put your wand down," James says, sounding far more calm than he feels. Charlotte glares at him. "Put it down; we'll hear what happened first and decide what to do after," She looks absolutely furious as she continues to glare at him, and only after she casts a  _Muffliato_  in the direction of the girl on the couch does she lower her wand, but reluctantly she does. James reaches out to her, hand coming to rest on her forearm to calm her. From the way she yanks her arm away, it's not at all the helpful gesture he intends it to be. "Start at the beginning," He instructs Freddy. "What happened?"

Freddy's story is long and detailed, which James appreciates. It makes his decision a lot easier. "She stays," He says quietly, once Freddy finishes when the room is silent.

"Excuse me?" Charlotte's jaw drops.

"We can't afford to have bodies start piling up or have people fumbling around with modified memories."

"Oh, suddenly that's something we can't afford?" Charlotte returns sharply.

"There's no need to lash out at me." James says quietly. "I'm in this too." She deflates a bit, visible in her eyes more than her posture, which is still guarded and James continues. "I just came from lunch with my dad, where he said the Auror department has been on high alert for any suspicious activity." James thinks back to everything they'd talked about at lunch. "They know someone's smuggling in antimony and they're looking for things. We don't need to give them an excuse to come looking."

"We don't know anything about her!" Charlotte argues. "This is not the time to bring a stranger into our lives."

"She's got nothing on her," Freddy says softly. "Look at her!"

"I am," Charlotte says, but it lacks the heat of her earlier comments. "Which is why I want to make sure you aren't being blinded by a pretty face."

"How could you-" Freddy starts angrily.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Charlotte says gently and James knows she's not trying to be mean, but all the same Freddy looks slightly murderous. "And my  _children_  are the ones at stake here."

Freddy's the one to deflate now, the fire in his eyes dying a bit. "My gut tells me I'm not wrong on this."

"Good," James says, jumping in before Charlotte can snipe something at him. "Because she'll be your responsibility."

Freddy blinks. "Sorry. What?"

"Well we can't just leave her alone somewhere," James says. "And we can't spare the guards for a safe house right now. You brought her here; your responsibility."

Freddy's lips thin into a line. "Fine,"

Satisfied that neither of them are going to attack each other, or that Charlotte isn't going to make a sneak attack on Freddy's prisoner (for lack of a better term), James lifts the  _Muffliato_  in the room. The woman looks over at them instantly, the noise gone, and the hesitation is clear in her eyes. "What's your name?"

The woman bites her lip. "It's Juliette." Freddy sighs.

"I asked her." James says flatly. "You'll stay with Freddy, Juliette; there will be no arguments. You do what he says when he says it. If he says to go somewhere, you will do it, no questions asked. If he says to do something, you will do it,  _no questions asked_. Do I make myself clear?"

Juliette's eyes are moving between James and Freddy, but they settle on James when he snaps out his question and she nods. "Excellent." James continues, addressing Juliette mostly, since Freddy and Charlotte are well familiar with his thought process. "We'll meet here at 7 then, and all head over to dinner together. Be prepared to leave Freddy's by quarter til," Charlotte's already walking toward the door and James makes to follow her, both of them stopped by the quiet voice.

"I don't have anything to wear."

James looks to Charlotte, but she's already taking care of it. "Something will be waiting for you." She says and James trusts she's as on top of this as she is everything else.

"She doesn't even know my size," Juliette whispers in amazement, behind them.

"Size six dress, five shoe," Charlotte calls back and James wraps an arm around her as he leads her out of the office.

* * *

"So this will be your room," Freddy opens the door of the spare bedroom in the penthouse. It doesn't get used much, but it's kept impeccably clean by his housekeeper anyway.

Juliette steps in around him. She hasn't said much since they've arrived, besides the odd "mhmm" and "okay" in response to his tour. Her eyes look all around the room, a bit more interested than she had been in other areas of the apartment, where she'd merely spared some rooms a glance, before turning her gaze warily back to Freddy. Her eyes stop briefly on the garment bag and silver heels lying on the bed and she makes a noise, as if in disbelief that they could be here already.

"You should have everything you need in-"

"Why did you bring me here?" Juliette interrupts him. He can't quite figure out the tone in her question, but there definitely is one. Is she upset? Angry?

He won't give her the full truth, but she should have figured enough out by this point. "You understand what the other option was, right?" She doesn't react. "What we are?" Still nothing. "What I would have had to do if I didn't bring you here?"

There's a long moment of silence, but finally she nods. "Yes."

"Is there anyone who would notice you missing?" Freddy frowns. He doesn't tell her what he's going to have to do to them. He's thinking she might be able to guess.

"No,"

"I need you to be honest with me," Freddy says. "Family, friends? Anyone who may report you missing to any sort of authorities?"

"No," Juliette shakes her head. "There's no one."

Freddy studies her carefully. He can't see anything in her face to say she's lying. "Get yourself ready," He nods in the direction of the bathroom in her room. "We'll be leaving by 6:45,"

* * *

Charlotte's tapping her foot impatiently when she hears the tell-tale pop that signals Freddy's arrival. "About time," She snaps.

"Where's James?" Freddy ignores her snark, which is probably justified, as he's barely two minutes late. They're not running any business right now, no missions to go awry; there's no reason for her to be so on edge.

Except she's on edge about everything right now. She won't be calm again until Liam and Olivia and back in her sight.

"He went early." Charlotte steps forward to adjust Freddy's tie-how these men always seem to have them crooked is beyond her-and then purses her lips as she appraises the rest of him and the blonde next to him. Juliette's actually cleaned up well, far better than Charlotte expected her to, even with the few glaringly obvious flaws. She's not going to comment on the use of gold eyeshadow with silver shoes.  _She's not_. "To help his parents."

"Did we decide about a donation yet?" Freddy asks.

"James is doing 5," Charlotte had confirmed it with him earlier, before he'd left. "So I thought 2.5 each from us to match?"

"Seems reason-"

"You'll have to excuse these two. Always business, all the time." Damon interrupts Freddy and Charlotte shoots him a glare. He's smiling warmly at Juliette and extending his hand for her to shake. "I'm Damon, Charlotte's fiancee."

"Juliette," Charlotte introduces impatiently, before the girl can fuck anything up. "Freddy's girlfriend,"

"It's a pleasure," Damon smiles.

"We do have to be going." Charlotte urges, after exchanging a look with Freddy, before Damon can make more chit chat. She holds her arm out for her fiancee to take and spin her away.

Really, one of the last things they need is for  _those two_  to just start chatting.

* * *

"This is amazing!" Juliette marvels, as they walk inside the ballroom.

Charlotte and Freddy exchange a look. The Potter's annual gala- their main fundraiser for their foundation for underprivileged, abused, homeless, and parentless children-was always a top-notch event, but Charlotte supposed the awe was warranted for a first-time attendee. This year's theme was  _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_ , with the different fairy tales being represented throughout the entire room.

"Left or right?" Charlotte asks.

"The bar?" Freddy suggests. "As my mother is left,"

"Bar sounds great," Charlotte agrees, veering slightly right, not allowing Damon the chance to disagree.

Patrick's standing right there when they walk up and he pulls her into a hug immediately. Charlotte leans into the familiar comfort of her brother, smiling lightly when he squeezes her. "How are you?" She hears the unspoken  _how are you holding up, how are things going_?

"I'm okay," He squeezes her hand lightly as he pulls away and turns his attention to Freddy. "Freddy, mate, they've got that 30 year Ogden's we like,"

"Yeah?" Freddy's eyes light up.

Patrick nods as Freddy immediately turns to order one. "Me too," Charlotte requests, a request which earns her a raised eyebrow from both her brother and her best friend. A whisky is rarely her drink order, but it seems well earned tonight.

And frankly, she may need the whole bottle and not just one pour as the Delano's step up to greet her and Patrick. As far as she was aware, the couple still occupied the house next to her childhood home, but it'd been years since anyone in her family occupied that spot.

"Charlotte!" Mrs. Delano steps right up to kiss her cheek and moves immediately to do the same to her brother. Freddy tenses next to her and she feels him pull himself up to his full height when she takes the tiniest step backwards toward him as he passes her the glass of whisky, despite the relative non-threateningness of this fairly old couple.

"How are you kids?" Mr. Delano grins at the two of them.

"Great," Patrick answers smoothly.

"Good," Mr. Delano nods.

"It's such a shame," Mrs. Delano smiles. "We were hoping to see your parents!"

"Oh yes," Charlotte smiles gracefully. It's been hard putting on a face about Liam and Olivia. This, now this is second nature. "But you know how it is. Dad just really hasn't been the same since the fall."

"The poor thing," Mrs. Delano frowns.

"He's very settled now," Charlotte nods and then gestures to Freddy. "We have to go find James and do some more hello's, but I  _will_  let him know you were thinking of him."

Mrs. Delano's "Please do," is easy to ignore when she's already walking away with Freddy, Damon, and Juliette.

* * *

"Imagine my surprise," Freddy drops his head at the voice, the stream of curses running through his mind. He should have known he wouldn't get away with this. He plasters a huge smile on his face and whirls around, grabbing Juliette's hand with his own on the way. "When I hear  _from my son's best friend's fiance_  that he's here with his new girlfriend."

"Mum!" Freddy greets her pleasantly and feels the tension rise in Juliette through her palm. " _And_  Dad! Both of you! Hello!"

His dad looks thrilled at Freddy's discomfort, openly laughing, as his mum merely purses her lips to stare him down. "That he couldn't even be bothered to introduce her to his own parents."

Freddy hesitates; there's no way he can win this. "It was a spur of the moment thing?"

"What now?" It's his dad's turn to be surprised, his eyebrows rising.

"Decision, I mean," Freddy settles on. "We decided last minute that Juliette was going to come too," It's not a total lie; it had been  _very last minute_ that he'd even been aware of her existence.

"Juliette," His mum smiles warmly. "It's lovely to meet you dear,"

"Been ages since we met a girl Freddy's dating," His dad chimes in helpfully.

Freddy glares. "By all means, keep talking,"

"What are you going to do about it?" His dad puts his fists up, like they're going to tussle, as if Freddy hasn't been taller and stronger than him for more than ten years now.

Freddy grins easily. "I could take you old man,"

"Yeah, just wait until I pull out the wand," His dad teases. "I got years worth of dueling on you kid,"

His mum laughs fondly at them and addresses Juliette. "Don't worry; you get used to their nonsense,"

Juliette's frowning, looking between Freddy and his mum. "It's okay?" She says slowly. "I'm not..." She trails off slowly.

"Oh!" His mum says, sounding mildly surprised. "You're a-you don't have magic!"

Freddy blinks a few times but before he can come up with an excuse, Juliette is answering. "No," She replies quietly. "It has been a confusing adjustment."

"And you're French!" Freddy's dad exclaims, catching her accent, which leads to a wild topic change about his part-veela cousins.

Freddy remains fairly quiet though, studying the blonde next to him a bit closer. There'd been something deeper in her response to his mum about magic. He'd found her in a dirty corner in a Muggle port town with no wand, no clues at all led to her being magical at all.

There's a deeper depth here and he's going to get to the bottom of it.

* * *

"Hey," James finds Charlotte in the corner of the room, with a tumbler of whisky and surprisingly no other people. "Time for a walk?"

Her eyes flicker over toward a group of people. James follows them to see Damon talking with a group of his friends from Hogwarts, laughing boisterously along with his buddy next to him. "Absolutely,"

Julian and Brian are waiting outside and they barely have time to nod hello as James takes Charlotte's arm and turns to Apparate away.

"Could have warned me we were taking an outdoor walk," She says pointedly, the minute they re-appear outside of the graveyard gates.

James doesn't hesitate in shrugging off his suit jacket for her. "Needed to check something out." He knows she won't complain long, even if he hadn't said anything about his reason for coming back here again. And sure enough, she falls in step with him, keeping up easily despite her heels moving through the grass and gravel path.

It's far darker and colder, he's got Charlotte as a comforting presence right by his side with her fingers grazing his ever so often, and Julian and Brian are far closer than Julian was when they walked in that morning, but the path to his grandmother's grave may as well have been the same walk.

It's absolutely silent around them now, such a contrast from the noise his family had brought earlier in the day. There's no grass crunching beneath feet as Lily balances back and forth, none of Al's loud breathing. No other families mourning their own loved ones. No birds, no insects. Just quiet.

Charlotte stays silent until they arrive at the actual gravestones, and even then only mutters the charm to light the nearby lampposts as James crouches down to inspect the black substance he'd been looking at earlier.

It's gone.

James' mind is racing and he's standing up with his wand pointed at Julian before he even realizes what he's doing. Julian's hands are up in the air, showing he's nowhere near his wand and not making any moves for it. "What did you do?"

"What-" Julian frowns. "I've been with you the entire day!"

That-is an excellent point. He moves his wand to Brian. "James," Charlotte's hand comes to rest on his forearm. " _He's_  been with me the whole day."

Brian's looking all around them carefully, a perimeter sweep, James guesses, which is not a bad idea at all, if someone saw him notice the substance in front of his grandmother's grave earlier in the morning and then came back to clean it up.

He's being  _watched_. James had suspected it, but the confirmation is both unsettling and angering.

It's dark again suddenly and James looks to see Charlotte pocketing her wand into his suit pocket again. "We can't stay here." Her eyes are scanning around them as well and James agrees.

"No, let's go," Charlotte turns away first, with Brian hot on her heels, and James takes one final look around them, sure that he sees the whites of some eyes staring back at him as he's disappearing into space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *crawls out of hole because it's been about a month since i last updated this* umm hello! here's a hot mess who made this here camp nano project and then wrote a total of like 200 words for it the whole month of april only to promptly pound out the rest of the chapter in the first three days of may. classic.


End file.
